Ouch & Oops Buffer the Consequences of Cultural Collisions!
We think of ouch as an expression of pain and oops as acknowledging a mistake. These words are being used in diversity training program to signal the personal consequences of cultural collisions. Ouch also means, ‘You said (or did) something to hurt my feelings†and ‘oops†signals ‘I’m sorry.†The expressions show promise in helping people to work through cultural collisions.
Multicultural Policing
There appears to be statistics to support the accusation of racial bias in the law enforcement procedures involving black people. According to the Federal Household Survey, ‘most current illicit drug users are white. There were an estimated 9.9 million whites (72 percent of all users), 2.0 million blacks (15 percent), and 1.4 million Hispanics (10 percent) who were current illicit drug users in 1998. ‘And yet, blacks constitute 36.8% of those arrested for drug violations, over 42% of those in federal prisons for drug violations. African-Americans comprise almost 58% of those in state prisons for drug felonies; Hispanics account for 20.7%, (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Summary Report 1998, cited in Race Law Enforcement & Prison, 2008).
SOURCE: Osasumwen Osaghae, January, 2009
Some Countries Are More Neighborly Than Others
According to a World Values Survey of 2008, only 8.1% of South Africans would not like a person of a different race as a neighbor. Out of 54 countries surveyed on this particular topic, South Africa came 17th behind 1st placed Sweden with 1.8%.
Brazil was 12th with 5.3%, France 43rd with 26.8%. In last place was Hong Kong, with 86% of that country’s citizens saying they would not like to have a person of a different race as a neighbor.
Forty Three Percent of Americans are Single
There are 96 million people in the United States who have no spouse. That means 43 percent of all Americans over the age of 18 are single, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Sixty one percent of them have never married, 24 percent are divorced and 15 percent are widowed. An increasing number of these single Americans — more than 31 million — are living alone, according to the U.S. census. They make up 27 percent of all households, up from 17 percent in 1970.
Read the entire article here: http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/08/19/single.in.america/index.html?hpt=C2
Canada’s Immigrants are Untapped Human Capital
According to the Conference Board of Canada, the economy could gain almost $5 billion yearly if all immigrants had work matching their qualifications.
Source: http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/article/850261–rob-ford-s-blind-spots
Attitudes Towards the Media’s Coverage of Race, Ethnicity, & Class
In evaluating news coverage of different groups, pluralities of Americans say that coverage of poor people and Muslims is too negative, while somewhat smaller percentages say the same about coverage of blacks and Hispanics.
Among eight groups tested, whites and middle-class people are the only groups that majorities say are treated fairly by the press; 57% say that news coverage of whites is generally fair while 56% say the same about coverage of middle-class people.
Notably, about a third (32%) say that coverage of wealthy people is too positive — the highest percentage for any group included in the survey. About as many see coverage of the wealthy as too positive as say it is generally fair (31%).
These are the results of latest weekly News Interest Index survey, conducted Aug. 12-15 among 1,005 adults by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.
Source: http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1703/views-of-news-coverage-of-poor-blacks-hispanics-gays-muslims-rich-middle-class
CSU Monterey Bay Ranks 4th in California for Racial Diversity
Ethnicity backgrounds of about 4,200 students who attended California State University, Monterey Bay in Spring 2010, according to the school’s Institutional Assessment and Research.
- White: 2,099; 50 percent
- Latino American: 1,105; 26 percent
- Asian American: 231; 6 percent
- Two or more: 181; 4 percent
- African American: 165; 4 percent
- Pacific Islander: 31; 1 percent
- Native American: 29; 1 percent
- Other/decline: 357; 9 percent
Source: http://www.thecalifornian.com/article/20100819/NEWS12/8190310/California-State-University-Monterey-Bay-ranked-fourth-in-state-for-racial-diversity
RESULTS OF MENENDEZ’S MAJOR FORTUNE 500 DIVERSITY SURVEY: REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN AND MINORITIES ON CORPORATE BOARDS STILL LAGS FAR BEHIND NATIONAL POPULATION
Minorities represent 14.5% of corporate boards; women 18%. One of most successful corporate diversity surveys ever — 219 of Fortune 500 responded; 71 of Fortune 100.
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Chairman of the Senate Democratic Task Force and the lone Hispanic Senator, today unveiled the results of his survey on women and minority representation among the senior management of Fortune 500 companies, as well as their use of minority and women-owned businesses in the contracting and procurement process. The survey found that women and minority representation on corporate boards continues to lag far behind the national population percentages. Menendez’s survey was one of the most successful of its kind, garnering input from 219 corporations on the Fortune 500 list and 71 on the Fortune 100 list.
KEY FINDINGS
- Diversity on Corporate Boards
- Women represent 18.04% of Directors; 1 out of every 5 Board members is female. The proportional representation of women on Boards is less than one-half of their proportion to the overall U.S. population.
- Minorities represent 14.45% of Directors; 1 out of every 7 Board members is a minority. Minorities represent less than half of the 35% of the population they comprise overall in this country.
- Blacks/African Americans have the highest representation at 8.77% compared to their population, reporting a Board ratio of about 69%.
- Hispanics have one of the poorest representations on Boards. They comprise about 3.28% of Board members, one-fifth of the 15% they represent in the U.S. population.
- Native Americans made up about .04% of Board members, approximately 5% of their actual population
.
- Diversity on Executive Teams (CEO and direct reports)
- Women represent 19.87 percent of Directors; 1 out of every 5 Board members is female. Although women fared slightly better on executive teams than on corporate Boards, they still represent less than one-half of their population.
- Minorities overall have less representation on executive teams than they do on corporate Boards, representing 10.44% of executive managers, compared to 30% of their actual proportion to the U.S. population.
- Blacks/African Americans saw the greatest decline in representation from Boards to executive management teams, 8.77% to 4.23%. In fact, they went from about one out of every 11 Board members to one out of every 24 executive team members. When compared to population statistics, Blacks/African Americans on executive boards represented only about one-third of their U.S. population.
- Hispanics/Latinos fare worse on executive teams versus corporate Boards at 2.90%, Asians and Native Americans do slightly better at 2.55% and .25% respectively.
- Supplier Diversity
Only 98 corporations (less than half of respondents) provided some form of data on supplier diversity, whether it was by racial/ethnic category or just overall procurement with Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs). 118 corporations either chose not to answer the question or said they do not track this data at all.
Of the data collected:
• Hispanic/Latino-owned firms represent 2.69% of total procurement.
 • Black/African American-owned firms represent 2.58% of total procurement.
• Asian-owned firms represent 3.21% of total procurement.
• Native American-owned firms represent 0.83% of total procurement.
• Other minority-owned firms represent 3.31% of total procurement
Senator Menendez said ‘As Chair of the Senate Democratic Hispanic Task Force, one of my top priorities has always been promoting and expanding diversity at all levels of our economic, political and social sectors, and the basic understanding that has resulted from this survey will help guide us in doing so,” said Senator Menendez. “This report clearly confirms what we had suspected all along – that American corporations need to do better when it comes to having the board rooms on Wall Street reflect the reality on Main Street. We need to change the dynamic and make it commonplace for minorities to be part of the American corporate structure. It is not just about doing what’s right, but it’s a good business decision that will benefit both corporations and the communities they’re tapping into and making investments in. That’s why I’m offering my recommendations and to work one-on-one with companies who want to move those numbers and company executives who want to make a difference in the community.â€
Read the full story at menendez.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/?id=e8a1d85f-b9f9-4cb2-97dc-0c724f0a1ed2
August 4, 2010
Pew Research Center Study Finds Little Coverage Asian, Hispanic, and African Americans in the News
Date: July 26, 2010
Source: http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1676/media-coverage-african-american-issues-first-year-obama-presidency
 According to a Pew Research Center study that investigated media coverage of African Americans during the first year of the Obama presidency.
The report examined more than 67,000 mainstream news stories from February 2009 through February 2010 and found that just 643 of those stories (1.9% of the newshole studied) related in a significant way to African Americans in the U.S. While relatively small, this was more coverage than was given to Hispanics (1.3%) and Asian Americans (.2%) in the same time frame.
The biggest story involving African Americans in the time period under study was the Gates incident. That story accounted for nearly four times more African American coverage than did either of the two biggest national ‘issue†stories–the economy and health care.
The nation’s first black president was the second-biggest story in the coverage explicitly related to African Americans in the last year. In all, nearly 18% of coverage of African Americans came through attention to the Obama Administration.
Among the key findings: Nearly a third of the coverage of Africans Americans was related in some way to President Obama. Obama made himself a central player in the Gates incident when, at a presidential press conference, he described the arrest as ‘stupid.†Soon thereafter the president hosted a ‘beer summit†at the White House with his friend Gates and the arresting officer in an effort to smooth things over.
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Genetic Study Shows Diversity, Ancestry of Latino Populations
18.05.2010
Being Latino in the Americas can mean very different things – depending upon where your ancestors called home, a new study led by a Cornell researcher shows.
The new study shows that populations geographically close to former slave trade routes and ports have more African ancestry than more inland Latin Americans, who show more Native American heritage.
http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/studies/genetic_study_shows_diversity_ancestry_latino_154832.html
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Interracial Marriage Leaps Ahead
 Apparently, race is mattering less these days, say researchers at the Pew Research Center, who report that nearly 1 of 7 new marriages in the U.S. is interracial or between people of different ethnic groups. The report released on June 4, 2010, is based on interviews with couples married for less than a year. Results indicate that racial lines are blurring as more people choose to marry outside their race. Jeffrey Passel, a senior demographer for the Pew Research Center, said interracial marriages have soared since the 1980s. About 6.8 percent of newly married couples reported marrying outside their race or ethnicity in 1980. That figure jumped to about 14.6 percent in the Pew report released this week, which surveyed newlyweds in 2008.
The study found that marrying outside of one’s race or ethnicity is most common among Asians and Hispanics, two immigrant groups that have grown tremendously. About 30 percent of Asian newlyweds in the study married outside of their race, and about a quarter of Hispanic newlyweds reported marrying someone of another race.
African-Americans also increased in their number of interracial marriage, which has roughly tripled since 1980, according to the results. About 16%of African-Americans overall are in an interracial marriage. But, researchers point out a gender difference. African American males are more likely to marry outside of their race than females. The gender difference is the reverse in the Asian population surveyed. Twice as many newlywed Asian women, about 40%, were married outside their race, compared with Asian men, at about 20 percent.
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/06/04/pew.interracial.marriage/
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Marriages between blacks and whites are the fourth most frequent group among married opposite-sex interracial couples.
Number of interracial couples in U.S. reaches all-time high, CNN Wire Staff Wed April 25, 2012
http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/25/us/us-census-interracial/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
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